Air-laid structures are widely used in the art of absorbent articles and other arts in which fibrous webs are of use. One common approach for creating air-laid structures is to process a fibrous sheet of cellulosic fibers or other suitable fibers through a device that breaks up the fibrous sheet, thereby forming discrete fibers. The discrete fibers are entrained in a stream of air and directed to a foraminous forming surface upon which the fibers are deposited to form fluff. Typically, fluff has a high porosity and is comprised of essentially randomly oriented fibers. In some processes, a vacuum is applied to one side of the foraminous surface to create a pressure differential across the foraminous forming surface to assist with drawing the discrete fibers to the foraminous forming surface.
Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, diapers, and adult incontinence products commonly employ air-laid structures in the absorbent core. Absorbent cores have a generally planar structure in which the thickness is generally smaller than the planar dimensions. One common approach to forming air-laid absorbent articles is to situate the foraminous surface in a recess. In the art, the structure in which the foraminous surface is emplaced and the foraminous surface are components of what is commonly referred to as a core pocket. The thickness can be partially controlled by the depth of the recess in the core pocket and the planar dimensions of the absorbent core can be defined by the dimensions of the recess and the foraminous surface
Absorbent cores comprised of two or more different fibrous materials deposited in two different zones in which one fibrous material is deposited as an island surrounded by a second fibrous material may be useful. Creating an absorbent core having an island of one fibrous material surrounded by a second fibrous material without significant intermixing and layering of different fibrous materials can be difficult to accomplish on a commercial scale.
With these limitations in mind, the problem remains with providing an apparatus to manufacture air-laid fibrous articles comprised of an island of a first fibrous material surrounded by a second fibrous material without significant intermixing and layering of different fibrous materials that can be used on a commercial scale.